Actually, that sums up William Shakespeare's play pretty well. Viola has been shipwrecked in Illyria, and the captain tells her that the wreck carried off her twin brother as well. Being a gentlewoman, Viola is bereft of skills aside from singing and other musical arts (at which she says she is proficient), and so decides to dress up as a young eunuch so she might find employment under the Duke Orsino (see above), of whom she has heard good things. (She would rather serve the Countess Olivia, but the lady, heartbroken by the loss of her father and brother, has sworn off male company and presumably is not hiring.)

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After a mere three days in Orsino's service, the Duke is so charmed with the "boy" Cesario that he sends him off to woo the Countess on Orsino's behalf (citing how suspiciously innocently feminine he is). Olivia is not pleased to see Cesario as she has grown sick of Orsino's wooing, and answers sarcastically to the Duke's sentimental verses. Viola, however, can hold her own on the field of snarking, and refuses to see Orsino's suit so answered (in case one has not inferred, she has fallen hard for Orsino.) She banters with and challenges Olivia, who finds herself falling in love with the spirited "chap." When Viola's Half Identical Twin brother Sebastian shows up, the fun just gets started...

Now the subplot:[deep breath] Olivia has given over the management of her household to her Puritan steward Malvolio, whose new position causes him to look down on Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch. Sir Toby is taking advantage of a brainless rich boy named Andrew Aguecheek, by convincing the hapless Sir Andrew that Olivia would like to marry him. However, Olivia has no intention of the kind, and Sir Toby simply likes to use Andrew's money to fund his drinking and revelry. Malvolio comes down hard on Sir Toby, who, along with Olivia's handmaid Maria, decides to play a little trick on the lecherous social climber Malvolio...

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Meanwhile, Feste, Olivia's father's jester, has returned to seek employment, and is tasked by Olivia to watch over Toby, but wanders here and there, watches everyone, and laughs in his sleeve and out of it.

All in all one of Shakespeare's lighter, sillier plays (albeit one with quite a dark undertone), but a classic of English literature nonetheless. It's been adapted multiple times for stage and television—a silent film in 1910, a 1969 British TV movie with Alec Guinness as Malvolio, and, more notably, Trevor Nunn's entertaining 1996 version which transported the characters into a setting reminiscent of Victorian England and/or Wilhelmine Germany. The plot was also the basis for the 2006 teen comedy She's the Man.

Feste: Here comes one of thy kin has a most weak pia mater. Olivia: By mine honor, half drunk. What is he at the gate, cousin? Toby Belch: A gentleman. Olivia: A gentleman! What gentleman? Toby Belch: 'Tis a gentleman here— a plague o' these pickle herring!

Viola loves Orsino, who loves Olivia, who loves Cesario, who is Viola. Eventually they get it all sorted out happily, though.

Depending on your interpretation, this is permanent for Antonio.

All There in the Script: Viola doesn't get named in the play itself — as opposed to the stage directions — until the very last scene. It doesn't hurt that she spends most of the play as "Cesario"...

Similarly, Feste has exactly one use of his name in the show, and that over halfway through.

Ambiguously Bi: Both Viola and Olivia. Viola's definitely into Orsino, but some of her interactions with Olivia could very easily be read as her having feelings for her, as well, and most modern productions ramp up the subtext. Olivia, meanwhile, canonically falls in love with Viola. Granted, she thinks Viola is a man, but it's her personality that she fell for; Viola turning out to be female doesn't actually change anything Olivia was attracted to.

Artistic License  Geography: Downplayed. Illyria is what balkanized into modern day Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. However, the play is set during summertime, so, if we accept the title as indicative, it should be in the Southern Hemispherenote In the Northern Hemisphere, Twelfth Night would be a winter holiday, not a summer holiday. Admittedly, there's no confirmation that the events of the play are happening during the Twelfth Night festivities, which are only referenced in the title and briefly in a song by Sir Toby.

Big Fun: Sir Toby Belch, who likes to spend quite a bit of his spare time (as well as a sizable portion of Andrew's salary) eating and drinking, as contrasted to his foil, Malvolio, who tries to keep order in Olivia's household.

Maria: ...besides that he's a fool he's a great quarreler, and but that he had the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarreling, 'tis thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift of a grave.

Maria, Feste, and a few other rabblerousers agree to take the arrogant steward Malvolio down a peg, and they arrange a fake letter to fall his way, saying his employer, Olivia, is in love with him. Under this delusion, he behaves and dresses like a lovesick loon, all the while thinking this is exactly what she wants, and ends up being locked in a dungeon for lunacy, before being released and told the letter was a sham. It started out funny, but by the end, even the rabblerousers aren't laughing.

Olivia herself goes through a downplayed version of this. At the beginning, she is stately, composed, and implacable, and, yes, very proud. But by the time the play is ended she has fallen head over heels in love, and has almost completely lost her dignity on account of it.

Conveniently an Orphan: All we know about Viola and Sebastian's family is that their father is dead. By the sounds of it, they're all that each other has in the world.

The Cover Changes the Meaning: Feste's song at the end. Trevor Nunn's version makes it a fairly jubilant little number, but other versions range from bittersweet to plain sorrowful.

Covert Pervert: Despite his Puritanical tendencies, Malvolio's imagination is pretty deep in the gutter as regards Olivia: the letters he notices in her handwriting are "C's, U's, and T's" (try saying that aloud), and he daydreams about being married to her. The Trevor Nunn film has Malvolio wearing yellow stockings to sleep before he gets the fraudulent letter, treating yellow stockings as a kind of odd Illyrian kink.

Olivia: Give us the place alone: we will hear this divinity. Now, sir, what is your text? Viola: Most sweet lady— Olivia: A comfortable doctrine, and much may be said of it. Where lies your text? Viola: In Orsino's bosom. Olivia: In his bosom! In what chapter of his bosom? Viola: To answer by the method, in the first of his heart. Olivia: Oh, I have read it: it is heresy...

Dirty Coward: Andrew Aguecheek, who resorts to attacking Sebastian, whom he mistakes for Cesario/Viola (with Cesario denying Antonio's acquaintance), only for Andrew to get beaten and bruised by Sebastian.

Diseased Name: Andrew Aguecheek has a name that evokes feverish ill-health ("ague" being an Elizabethan word for fever with shivering and chills). It would just mean numbed as an adjective, suggesting a slight facial impairment, as if Sir Andrew has had a stroke: one side of his face being without motion, which explains some of his speech.

Viola: Most sweet lady... Olivia: ... a comfortable doctrine, and much may be said of it.

Disproportionate Retribution: Feste, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian have Malvolio locked up in a small, completely darkened room with no candle or food or water, because he's a presumptuous stick-in-the-mud who hates parties.

The Ditz: Sir Andrew. Fortunately for him, he's too stupid to realize how little everyone thinks of him until Sir Toby makes it explicit at the very end.

Dogged Nice Guy: Orsino believes that Olivia owes him a return of his feelings because he's so persistent and passionate. Viola dutifully makes Orsino's case, but eventually she gets fed up and tells her master that no, you can't force someone to love you just because you love them.

Double Entendre: When Malvolio repeats the line "some have greatness thrust upon them!" to Olivia after he turns up in the yellow cross-gartered stockings.

Driven to Villainy: After getting yanked around the entire play, Malvolio loses it at the happy ending and vows revenge on the whole lot of them.

Everyone Is Bi: Averted, but just barely. With all the (misaimed?) crushes going on, the audience is definitely invited to wonder.

Excessive Mourning: Orsino argues that Olivia should resort to new means to remember her family. Like, having children.

Foil: Malvolio, to Feste, Toby Belch, Andrew Aguecheek, Maria and Fabian. See also Meaningful Name

Forged Letter: Maria writes a letter ambiguously making it seem that Olivia is in love with Malvolio, to trick him.

Fourth Date Marriage: Even for an Elizabethan comedy, in which this trope was expected, Twelfth Night stands out: Orsino proposes to Viola the instant he learns that she is a woman, and more ridiculously still, Sebastian marries Olivia, a woman he has literally just met, without even telling her his real name. Most productions will try to mitigate this this by blocking Orsino and Viola's scenes to show obvious physical chemistry they're trying to ignore, but there's not much to be done with Sebastian and Olivia.

Freudian Slip: When Orsino finds out that Olivia loves Cesario, he threatens to murder Cesario, comparing himself to an Egyptian thief who murdered his own lover to keep her from being tortured. He's inadvertently revealing that Cesario is the one he's in love with.

Fun-Hating Villain: Malvolio is defined by his Puritan aversion to fun and games. This was Truth in Television, as Puritans of Shakespeare's age were opposed to theater, so of course the Bard was quite dim on them.

Gaslighting: Feste, Toby and Maria try to pull this on Malvolio during his mock-exorcism.

Gender Bender: You better believe it. (On top of everything else, all stage roles in Shakespeare's day were played by men ... so Cesario, for example, would be a man dressed up as a woman dressed up as a man. Your basic Shakespearean Recursive Crossdressing. Got it?)

Gone Horribly Right: Sir Toby and Fabian's plan to set Sir Andrew and Cesario up for a duel (and negotiate a settlement very amusing and profitable to themselves) falls to pieces when they accidentally find Sebastian, who is perfectly happy to hit back.

Informed Ability: Viola tells the captain that she can sing well, and thus she inveigles herself into the court of the music-loving Orsino, but the play never calls for her to demonstrate her ability. Some productions will create opportunities for her; Trevor Nunn's film has her performing for Orsino several times (even rearranging the early scenes to let her be the musician in the "music be the food of love" scene), and the 2009 Shakespeare in the Park production with Anne Hathaway specifically cast singers, had the band Hem compose music for the in-show songs, and in general had so much music that they released a soundtrack album.

The 2017 Emma Rice Globe staging, meanwhile, is full of song but while the whole cast join in with choruses, Viola never has any kind of solo. It is instead Orsinio, Maria and most of all Feste (played here as bass-baritone drag act Le Gateau Chocolat in a sparkly kaftan) who lead the singing.

Viola sings quite well in the 2018 American musical adaptation by Shaina Taub, where she was originally played by Nikki M. James (known for playing Nabalungi in The Book of Mormon), and has a solo to herself, "Viola's Soliloquy."

Olivia: Take the fool away.Feste: Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady. Olivia: Go to, you're a dry fool; I'll no more of you: besides, you grow dishonest. Feste: Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel will amend: for give the dry fool drink, then is the fool no longer dry; bid the dishonest man mend himself: if he mend, then he is no longer dishonest: if he cannot, let the botcher mend him: anything that's mended is but patched: virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue: if that this simple syllogism will serve, so; if it will not, what remedy? As there is no true cuckold but calamity, so beauty's a flower. — The lady bade take away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away. Olivia: Sir, I bade them take away you.

A moment later, he asks Olivia:

Feste: Good madonna, why mournest thou? Olivia: Good fool, for my brother's death. Feste: I think his soul is in hell, madonna. Olivia: I know his soul is in heaven, fool. Feste: The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.

Feste gets another occasion when he disguises himself as Sir Topas the curate to quiz Malvolio whom Toby and Fabian have put into a dark room.

Malvolio: I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal: I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary fool that has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard already; unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged...

In the final scene:

Feste: "By the Lord, fool, I am not mad." But do you remember? "Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? And you smile not, he's gagg'd." And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Toby: Approach, Sir Andrew: not to be a-bed after midnight is to be up betimes; and diluculo surgere, thou knowest— Andrew: Nay, I know not; but I know, to be up late is to be up late. Toby: A false conclusion: I hate it as an unfilled can. To be up after midnight and to go to bed, then, is early; so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes.

Since the next day starts at midnight, any time after midnight (e.g., 12:05 A.M.) would be considered part of the morrow, which means that any time after midnight would be considered part of the next day, which starts at midnight.

I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A large part of why Viola continues to deliver Orsino's overtures to a woman who doesn't return his love, despite desiring him herself.

I Will Show You X: In Act II, Scene V, as Malvolio is deciphering a letter that reads "M, O, A, I doth sway my life", while Toby, Andrew and Fabian are hiding in the box-tree:

Malvolio: "M", but then there is no consonancy in the sequel; "A" should follow, but "O" does. Fabian: And "O" shall end, I hope. Toby Belch: Ay, or I'll cudgel him, and make him cry "O"!Malvolio: And then "I" comes behind. Fabian: Ay, and had you any eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels than fortunes before you.

Later in Act V, when Feste reveals that he masqueraded as Sir Topas:

Feste: ...and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Malvolio: I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.

Karmic Trickster: Feste the jester embodies this role. He points out the logical flaws in Olivia's mourning, sees through even Viola's clever wordplay, and cuts the pompous, Puritan Malvolio down to size... and then some.

Kick the Dog: The severity of Malvolio's imprisonment varies with production, but in general the level of Mind Screw that Feste and the others put him through is a little bit excessive, even if he is a Jerk Ass.

Kill the Ones You Love: Orsino threatens to do this to "Cesario" in the final scene, when he believes "him" to have betrayed him with Olivia.

Orsino: Why should I not, had I the heart to do it, Like to the Egyptian thief at point of death, Kill what I love?

The Load: Sir Toby Belch to Andrew, since he frequently borrows from Andrew's allowance. When Andrew offers Viola his horse Capilet to call off the fight, Toby mentions in an aside:

Toby Belch: Marry, I'll ride your horse as well as I ride you.

Toby is also this to Olivia and Malvolio, whose patience is worn thin by Toby's rowdy pranks, brawls and loud parties.

Love Dodecahedron: Orsino is pining after Olivia, who's got a thing for "Cesario," his actually-female servant, who invokes the ire of Malvolio, Olivia's steward who dreams of marrying her, meanwhile Cesario-actually-Viola tries to suppress her love for Orsino while dodging challenges from Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is also courting the Countess, but who accidentally runs into Viola's twin brother...

Loving a Shadow: Orsino for Olivia. He even says as much - he says he doesn't care about her fabulous inheritance and wealth, but for her beauty, without a hint of self-consciousness. Well done, dude.

In the 1996 movie, Orsino seemed to imply that what made him fall in love with Olivia was her dedication to upholding her vow of not loving a man for seven years after. He loves her because he admires her dedication towards NOT loving anyone out of love for her father and brother, and so decided to woo her while she's still mourning. YMMV, but this made him seem very stupid since the whole reason he "loves" her is because she's refusing to love anyone!

Possibly lampshaded when Maria refers to Malvolio "practicing behavior to his own shadow".

Makeup Is Evil: Viola, first seeing Olivia's unveiled face, says that she's beautiful if there was no makeup; Olivia assures her that there's none, and it will not wash off.

"Antonio" may also refer back to Shakespeare's earlier work. The Merchant of Venice also has an Ambiguously Gay Antonio who ends up staking his reputation that Bassanio and Gratiano will never part with their wedding rings again.

Feste's disguise as Sir Topas the curate; "Topas" can be considered an alternate spelling of topaz, and according to English superstition, topazes were believed to have powers to cure lunatics, with Malvolio persistently protesting that he is not insane.

But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to please you every day.

Men Are Better Than Women: A belief of Orsino's, not uncommon in Elizabethan England. He's set straight by the end of the play.

Miles Gloriosus: Andrew Aguecheek, who attacks Sebastian after his attempted duel with Cesario/Viola is interrupted by Antonio, only for Sebastian to kick Andrew's butt to kingdom come.

My Sibling Will Live Through Me: Viola doesn't only disguise herself as a man, she specifically dresses like her brother in memory of him. Needless to say, this makes mistaking them for each other even easier.

Narcissist: A running theme. Orsino thinks he's in love with Olivia, but actually he's in love with himself ("my desires, like fell and cruel hounds/E'er since pursue me.") Viola, hopeless in her love for him because he doesn't know that she's a girl, plays the role of Echo. In the subplot, Malvolio is also this. Even Olivia's excessive mourning is treated as being selfish. One professional production drove the point home by using a gigantic illustration of Narcissus as a backdrop.

Nice Girl: Viola is a very kind, very loyal, very likable individual; notably, she never uses her disguise to trick or deceive others beyond telling them she's male—she's simply interested in getting on with her life. She's also very sweet to both Olivia and Orsino, and genuinely wants the best for everyone. At least one literary critic has claimed that her straightforwardly good and kind personality is probably why Viola's one of the most well-liked of Shakespeare's leading ladies.

Malvolio, Olivia's well-meaning steward that tries to preserve order in her household, who comes across as a wet blanket killjoy when he strongly objects to the caterwauling of Toby, Andrew, and Feste, soon follows the letter's instructions (written by Maria, unbeknownst to Malvolio) in the hopes of wooing Olivia, and Olivia eventually has him released from the darkened room.

Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who witnessed Cesario's denial of Antonio's friendship, brawls with Sebastian when he mistakes him for Cesario, is depicted as more of a hopeless suitor that tries to woo Olivia by attempting to display some fighting skills, while Sir Toby has been mooching from his salary.

No Periods, Period: Averted, if only in a minor way. Olivia dismisses "Cesario" by snapping, "'Tis not that time of moon with me to make one in so skipping a dialogue." Cue Olivia's handmaid Maria trying to usher Cesario out: "Will you set sail sir? Here lies your way!"

Non-Ironic Clown: Feste, as a jester, who frequently engages in witty banter and joins in the pranks when he disguises himself as Sir Topas when he examines Malvolio.

Not So Above It All: Malvolio, who turns to the frivolity that he condemns when he believes that it is the way to win over Olivia.

Oh My Gods!: The characters in the play frequently appeal to or praise Jove.

Only Sane Man: Sebastian thinks—not without cause—that everyone around him has gone mad.

Operation: Jealousy: It's possible to play Maria, during the scene when she meets Sir Andrew for the first time, as deliberately leading Sir Andrew on to try and make Toby Belch jealous.

Opportunistic Bastard: Toby Belch, who joins Maria, Fabian, and Andrew Aguecheek in a forged letter to get Malvolio to believe Olivia is infatuated with him, in addition to mooching hefty sums of money from Andrew in the hopes that Andrew might woo Olivia, only to desert him when Andrew's plans fall to pieces after Sebastian beats him up, and he ends up marrying Maria instead.

Orphan's Ordeal: A mild example, but Olivia has recently inherited the title of Countess from her dead father and brother, and at the start of the play is deeply mourning them both, and plans to spend the next seven years in mourning.

Paper-Thin Disguise: Viola as Cesario, depending on who's cast to play her. But even with a male actor, she's made up in the same way as other female characters.

Playing Cyrano: Orsino wants "Cesario" to act as such, not because Orsino is bad with words (far from it) but because Olivia might be more receptive to Cesario's delicacy.

Viola's first appraisal of Olivia's character is, "I see you what you are, you are too proud." Viola might be speaking out of personal frustration, to see Olivia laughing at the man Viola loves, but the line does open up a suggestion that Olivia's arc from then on becomes a Break the Haughty plotline.

Malvolio's pride is his downfall, starting with his holier-than-thou attitude and presumptuous ambitions.

Rags to Royalty: Neither Sebastian nor Viola are stated to be of any great lineage and yet they marry a Duke and a Countess.

The Reveal: To someone just watching the play, sans playbill, Viola's name is not revealed until towards the end of the very last scene.

Maria...although she doesn't snark at Olivia, her employer. She does snark at Olivia's freeloading uncle Toby and his drinking buddy, since she's also stuck working for them ("A stoup of wine, Maria!")

And, of course, this is The Fool's job.

Feste: Lady Olivia has no folly: she will keep no fool, sir, till she be married.

Sir Andrew: To be up late is to be up late! ... Feste: As the old hermit of Prague, that never saw pen and ink, very wittily said to a niece of King Gorboduc, 'That that is is;' so I, being Master Parson, am Master Parson; for, what is 'that' but 'that,' and 'is' but 'is'? ... Olivia: Tell me what thou think'st of me. Viola That you do think you are not what you are. Olivia: If I think so, I think the same of you. Viola: Then think you right; I am not what I am. Olivia: I would you were as I would have you be!

Olivia: Take the fool away. Feste: Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady. Olivia: Go to, you're a dry fool; I'll no more of you: besides, you grow dishonest. Feste: Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel will amend: for give the dry fool drink, then is the fool no longer dry; bid the dishonest man mend himself: if he mend, then he is no longer dishonest: if he cannot, let the botcher mend him: anything that's mended is but patched: virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue: if that this simple syllogism will serve, so; if it will not, what remedy? As there is no true cuckold but calamity, so beauty's a flower. — The lady bade take away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away. Olivia: Sir, I bade them take away you.

Smarter Than You Look: This sums up Feste's entire character; his clowning belies a keen intelligence. In particular, while no other character in the story seems remotely aware that Viola's a woman, Feste sees through her disguise almost instantly. Viola comments on it in an aside.

Viola: This fellow is wise enough to play the fool, and to do that well craves a kind of wit.

Stepford Smiler: Malvolio, when he follows the letter's instructions, giddily begins to smile unnaturally, which does not please the melancholy Olivia one bit, since she is more accustomed to Malvolio when he is melancholy.

Tree Cover: Maria, Toby, and Andrew hide in or behind a box tree according to the stage directions. Given boxwood refers to a small shrubbery or tree, this verges on Mobile Shrubbery in some productions.

Triang Relations: A type 2. Viola loves Orsino, who loves Olivia, who loves Cesario, who is Viola in disguise. Sebastian's main role in the plot is resolving the triangle.

True Art Is Ancient: In-Universe; Orsino describes the melancholy song that he has Feste sing as "antique," and he praises it for recalling the innocence of love, "like the old days."

True Art Is Angsty: In-Universe, for the same song, "Come Away, Come Away, Death." Orsino is very pleased when Cesario praises the song highly.

"Walk on the Wild Side" Episode: The rigid Puritan Malvolio lets it all hang out by dressing in flamboyant fashions meant for somebody twenty years younger and protests his love for his shocked female employer.

What Happened to the Mouse?: Even the stage directions seem to forget about Antonio by the end. While it's unlikely his love will be requited, we still don't know whether he'll escape punishment for his actions in the war.

Women Are Wiser: In Orsino and "Cesario"'s dialogue, Orsino seems to be much less mature in his love than Viola, who is entirely capable of actually working for her love rather than sitting around and moping.

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